In the making of tablets, a plurality of sheets of paper are arranged into a set with the edges of the sheets in registration. The sets are moved in a defined path and one edge held together by applying a cement or adhesive. A headband strip is applied to the cemented edge and a length of tape applied to secure the headband strip to the tablet set. Finally, the sets are cut into predetermined lengths such as 81/2 by 14 inches, 6 by 8 inches and the like.
Devices for producing tablets are commonly known as tablet machines, such as shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,073 issued to Boyd C. Blair and assigned to the Brackett Stripping Machine Company, Inc.; this patent is incorporated by reference herein. The headband strips are typically of cardboard or heavy paper and have heretofore been formed in large sheets, printed in sheet form and sliced into individual strips which are hand fed into the tablet machine. This method is time consuming and labor intensive, and hence is costly.
In view of the above, the present invention provides a combination headband strip reel and printer for use with a tablet machine. The printing mechanism is adjustable to selectively set an interval of print so that a single printing plate or plate wheel can be used to print headbands of virtually any length used on standard size or special order tablets, thereby alleviating the usual necessity for expensive, different length printing plates and the set up times attendent thereto to change from the production of one tablet size to another.